The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont, presents Harold Flynn in a radio adaptation of Warner Brothers' latest motion picture, They Died with Their Boots On. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Clayton Collier. Tonight, by special arrangement with Warner Brothers Studios, we bring you Harold Flynn in scenes from his new motion picture, They Died with Their Boots On, a picture co-starring Olivia de Havilland, which will be released soon throughout the country. This imaginative screen treatment of a great American soldier, General George Armstrong Custer, with its vivid theme of undying heroism, is presented by the Cavalcade of America tonight as DuPont stars Harold Flynn in his latest colorful screen role, General George Custer, in They Died with Their Boots On. Monroe, Michigan, a middling town in the middle of the country. It is the year 1866. At breakfast in a middling household sits a demobilized soldier of middling rank. He is talking with his wife. You look well, darling. The trip did you good. Thank you, General Custer. Captain Custer now, Libby. You're forgetting. Aren't you going to ask me about Chicago, Captain? No. I'm waiting for you to tell me. Well, I dropped in on Uncle Phil Sheridan for just a moment. Oh, how's the old general? Speaking of you, as always, George. And he sent you a present. Well, that was nice of the old gentleman. Here it is, General. Thank you, my dear. Why, look at this. It's a watch and chain to Major General George Armstrong Custer from his old Michigan brigade. They haven't forgotten me after all, Libby. Silly, how could they? After all, it was you who made heroes of them at Gettysburg. But they were great boys. Great days, too, Libby. You do miss your soldiering, don't you, George? No, no. I'm happy enough. There are thousands of regiments, darling, but there's only one you. Spoken very gallantly, sir. You want to look at your mail now, darling? Yes, I guess so. Get it over with. The general's morning mail. Oh, what's that one there? That looks terribly official. Yes. The emptier they are, the more official they look. Dear Captain Custer, at the suggestion of the Secretary of War, I am Libby. What? Libby, I'm on the active list again. Lieutenant Colonel to command a regiment of cavalry in the West. It says they passed up 50 senior officers, including lieutenant generals, to give me the job. Oh, darling, I'm so glad for you. It's a pretty wild country, though. The railroad doesn't go that far. Go part way by wagon and... Oh, Libby, do you mind very much? Mind? This is the first time I've seen you really happy for years. Oh, darling, action. Action at last. I... Libby, that trip to Chicago, you didn't arrange this whole thing through your Uncle Phil Sheridan, did you? George, how can you say such a thing? Well, I know, but... Well, maybe somebody in Washington remembered Gettysburg. You couldn't forget Gettysburg in three years, could you? Nobody could. Of course not, darling. Nobody could. Oh, oh. Well, here you are, folks. This here's Fort Abe Lincoln. Fort Lincoln? But where's the sentry? Where's the guard? Well, that's them over there on the porch of Sharpe Saloon. Guess they don't know who you are. Well, if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have taken them for cavalrymen. Look, go and bring that lieutenant over here, will you? Yes, sir. Looks like I'll have to leave you for a few minutes, Libby. It's all right, dear. I can manage. Lieutenant Roberts, sir. Sorry you find us in such bad order, sir. Lieutenant, would you mind telling me why there's no guard out to meet me? Why are the men in that saloon instead of patrolling the wagon trail? The sewer on the warpath, sir, our orders ought to fall up here. Well, the fort's not here to protect the regiment, Roberts. The regiment's here to protect the wagon trains going west. I know, sir, but you see how it is since Mr. Sharpe opened his post here. Sharpe? Who is this Sharpe? I thought he just ran the saloon. Oh, he sells liquor to the regiment and rifles to the Indians. I see. Well, we'll put a stop to that right now, lieutenant. Come along with me, will you? I want you to introduce me to this Mr. Sharpe. Yes, sir. He's over there now. You see, sir, where most of us newly mustered in, we haven't had any commanding officers yet. So I see. Here's the place, sir. We're going, lieutenant. Yes, sir. After you, sir. Thank you. Menchon! Men, this is your new commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. I tell you, it couldn't be Custer. I tell you, it is. Who's in charge here? This is my place, Custer. Sharpe's my name. Oh, well, I'll see you later, Sharpe. Lieutenant. Yes, sir. Put those two troopers there under arrest. Charge them with not being able to hold their liquor. They're supposed to be cavalrymen. Yes, sir. Now then, Mr. Sharpe, I want this bar closed right now. You can't close this bar, Custer. This place was licensed by the Secretary of War. Can't close it. Personally. Lieutenant. Yes, sir. Turn out a section with sidearms. Close this place up. This bar's a legal business. Boys, you know your rights. No one can tell you how to spend your pay, can they? No! Wait a minute, men. I have to admit to you that Mr. Sharpe is quite right. There's no legal reason why this bar should be closed. None whatsoever. But if I find it open, starting one minute from now, Mr. Sharpe is going to get the surprise of his life. Because I'm going to throw him through that big plate glass mirror behind his bar. All right, Custer, you win this time. All right, as you were, men. Now look, I want you to understand I'm not doing this because I'm a blue nose. Maybe it's tough on me to go without a drink, too. Maybe it's tougher. But this regiment has a job to do. We're responsible for 100,000 square miles of territory. And until we can honestly say that we're in shape to tackle that job, you won't catch me taking a drink, either. I'm not asking you to do anything I'm not willing to do myself. All right, men. And that's the way it's going to be in this regiment. Attention! At ease, gentlemen. Sit down, will you? What I have to say won't take so very long, so we might as well be comfortable. Even as officers, I'm proud of your work on maneuvers today. I don't think I've ever seen a finer-looking regiment. But I want to tell you this. A regiment is something more than just 600 fighting men. In a few days' time, we march to the west against Crazy Horse and his Sioux Raiders, a thousand of the best light cavalrymen on the face of the earth. Some of us will die. But the regiment will live on. Because a regiment has an immortal soul of its own. Now, if we can believe that, gentlemen, we'll have the kind of pride for which men will endure anything and, if necessary, die with their boots on. Seventh cavalry! Attack in columns of squadrons! Charge! Ho! There was a war and a leader of men against them, called by his people Crazy Horse, and there was proud fighting across the clean sweep of the plains. And a peace at last, a proud and honorable peace. Long hair, my people Sioux come to make peace with you. I have heard my brother's words, and I give my brother my word and the guarantee of the White Father. The shrine of your people's gods, the Black Hills, will never again be violated by white men, so long as the peace be kept. My fighters will protect your land. And may your people dwell there forever in peace. Crazy Horse, you have my word. Ah, Custer, we meet again. Welcome back to Fort Lincoln. Well, what brings you to Dakota, Mr. Tape? Business, Custer, business. Officially, I'm the new government commissioner in these parts. Oh, I heard there was a new commissioner, but I... But you never dreamed to be me, did you, Custer? Well, let's let bygones be bygones. I'm not one to hold a grudge. Right, we'll shake on that. Good. What kind of a treaty is this that you put through with the Sioux? I hold some stock in a railroad that was mighty anxious to get a ride away through the Black Hills. Do you? Yeah. Well, I hold some stock in a regiment that's mighty anxious to keep its word, Mr. Tape. Ah, well, I'm sure we can work it out, Custer. Fine. By the way, sir, I've arranged a little review of my regiment. It starts in just a moment. Perhaps you'd like to take their salute, would you? I'm honored, Custer. Fine. Let's step outside. Right. After you, sir. Thank you. You've met all my officers, I believe. Yes. What do you mean to say you're staging a review without officers? Oh, yes. That's because I want you to see what soldiers can do by themselves, Mr. Tape, when they've got something to believe in. Oh. Well, this should be interesting. Signal them to start, will you, Lieutenant Roberts? Yes, sir. Here they come now, sir. Good. There's the forward rang now, Mr. Tape. I want you to watch the discipline of these horsemen when they parade past us. Ah, but they... Oh, good heavens, Custer. The forward man of the column had... Look at him. Why? Why, he must be sick. Roberts, what's wrong there? Rest of my horse, sir. Signal him to fall out. They're coming right on, sir, on the gallop. They don't see me. Fools! Halt! Halt, I say! Halt! They're drunk! Drunk! Your whole precious 7th Cavalry Regiment is drunk, Custer. What's the meaning of this? I don't know, Tape, but I'm going to find out. All right, Sharp. Come out from behind that bar, Sharp. I said come out from behind that bar. Now, Custer, I reopened this bar on the authority of Commissioner Tape. Drinks were free to the men in honor of his visit. Free, were they? Well, here's one bottle they won't get. And here's another. And another. And another. Custer, you're destroying private property. These glasses, they're private property too, aren't they? Custer, stop it. I'm just beginning. Now listen, Custer. That's nice brandy there. Good stuff, isn't it? And that nice big mirror back of the bar. Custer! Here's some for you, Tape. Look for your mask. This bar was opened on my authority. If your men are drunk and such, that's your responsibility, not Mr. Sharp. You call my men such? Why, you cheap, boos-licking politician! Let me go! Help! You're a terrible little parasite! Custer! Just let him go! This is the Commissioner. Commissioner or not, I'm going to give him this. All right, gentlemen. I've finished, I think. You'll be court-martialed for this, Custer. You'll be court-martialed in Washington. You are listening to They Died With Their Boots On, starring Errol Flynn as General George Armstrong Custer in a radio presentation of his new Warner Brothers motion picture on the cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. As our show continues, General Custer, played by Errol Flynn, stripped of his rank for striking a government representative, sits beside his wife on a train bound for Washington, where he faces a court-martial. All aboard! All aboard! Fifteen minutes to... Well, Libby, nearly there. Yes, nearly there. Oh, Mr. Custer, there are some reporters outside. I don't want to see them. They seem very anxious to see you, sir. No, thank you. Just as you say, Mr. Custer. Is there anything you'd like me to get you, dear? Some cigars? No, thank you, darling. Oh, you might get me a newspaper, would you? Oh, no, wait. There's a boy now. Hey there, boy. Yes, sir. At your service. Have you got a Chicago or Washington paper there? I got the Chicago record held just in half an hour ago. All about the big gold strike in the Black Hills. Gold? In the Black Hills? Bigger than California, they say. Thank you, sir. Libby, listen to this. The stampede started when an Indian squad tended a nugget of gold for supplies in the Western Railroad Land and Trading Company in Fort Lincoln. Thousands of people from Chicago and for Cindy Alona... Thousands of people? Why, that's what Mrs. Tape said. What? Tape's wife? When did she say that? The day you came back to the fort after the treaty had been signed. She advised me to buy stock in Sharp's company because thousands of people would be coming to the Black Hills. I thought she was joking because under the treaty, of course... Libby, do you realize what this means? Why... They knew all about this gold rush before it happened. It means it's a fraud, the whole thing. Conductor! Yes, Mr. Custer? Bring those reporters in. But Mr. Custer, you just said... Never mind what I said. Bring them in. There's not much time. Right away, sir. George, you seem so excited. What is it? You'll hear in a moment, darling. Well, Mr. Custer, I'm glad you changed your mind. Mr. Custer, we'd like to get the story about your trouble out west. What about this fellow Tape? Was he a rival at West Point? Now, wait a minute, gentlemen. I'll tell you the whole story. Sit down, be quiet and listen. Thank you, sir. All set, sir. Let her go. Gentlemen, I accuse Mr. Tape, the government representative in the Dakota Territory, of a deliberate and traitorous conspiracy to violate the treaty of the United States with the Sioux Indians. Mr. Custer, do you mean to say that... Please don't interrupt me, sir. I'll tell you all you want to know and more. You may quote me here throughout. I accuse not only Mr. Tape, but the administration in Washington as well of this treason against the United States. Isn't that going a little far, Mr. Custer? Well, I'll go further. These men are thieves and murderers as well. If you want to be quoted on that... Write down every word of it. I can prove that Mr. Tape knew of this fake gold rush before it even happened. That he and Mr. Sharp invented it. That they cold-bloodedly plotted to sacrifice the lives of innocent citizens. Well, how's that, Mr. Custer? Because when those settlers go into the Black Hills looking for gold, they'll violate my treaty with the Indians. They'll be slaughtered to the last man. Will you stake your reputation on your statement that there's no gold in the Black Hills? Yes, I will. Furthermore, I intend to take this to President Grant himself. I intend to fight these criminal politicians and parasites to the last ditch. And, gentlemen, if I had known when I was first cashiered what I know now, I'd have hanged every single one of them from those gate posts of Fort Lincoln. I'm sorry, Mr. Custer, but the president will not see you. But I tell you, thousands of people are going to lose their lives. I'm sorry, Mr. Custer. Wait, where are you going? Get out of my way. But you can't, you can't go in there. No. General Grant. What in thunder do you mean storming into my office like this? May I remind you, Mr. Custer, that I am the president of the United States? I'm not interested in the president of the United States. I'm interested in a certain soldier named Ulysses S. Grant. All right, what is it? I want my regiment back, Grant. You'll get nothing from me but a court-martial. To the devil with a court-martial. I want my regiment back. Maybe you'll tell me why I should give it to you. Yes, I'll tell you. Because you know how a man feels when he's broken and left behind a regiment that's marching out to fight. You know, Grant, because you had a taste of it yourself once. Remember? How about it, Grant? Well, what are you waiting for? Go back and get your blasted regiment and do what you want with it. Come in. Beg to report, sir. The regiment's ready for action, sir. Right. Be along in a moment? Yes, sir. I, uh, General Custer, sir. What is it, Roberts? I've been meaning to ask you ever since you got back to Fort Lincoln. What do you honestly think our chances are of coming back from the Little Bighorn? Well, I... Why do you ask that? Well, sir, you've seen my wife. We have been married very long, and I thought, well, if there's not much hope of our getting back... Oh. Well, Roberts, we're... we're 600 men against the combined strength of every Indian fighting man in this territory. They're fighting to defend their last sanctuary, the Black Hills, and I don't blame them. But it's them or us, and I'm afraid it's going to be us. In other words... In other words, we haven't a ghost of a chance of coming back alive from the Little Bighorn. That's what I thought, sir. Thank you, sir. Oh, uh, Roberts. Yes, sir? I don't think I'd tell your wife if I were you. It'll all be easier for her that way, however it turns out. Perhaps you're right. Thank you, sir. Right. You can mount the columns now if you like. I won't be long. Yes, sir. We'll be waiting, sir. Right. George? Oh, come in, my dear. Ah. I was just trying to soften up these old jack boots. I've stiffened up a bit since the last time I was in them. They might have done a better job polishing them up. Well, I doubt a crazy horse will notice. George, I... Here's your cartridge bill. Thank you, my dear. Now then, anything I've forgotten? Field glasses? Yes. Compass? Got it. Your watch? Watch? Oh. Here it is. You know, Libby, they ought to make you quartermaster general. Every time I go into the field, I'm the best equipped man in the regiment. Oh. Oh, look what I've done. What is it? Well, your... your little miniature. It's broken. I won't be able to take this with me. It'll be the first time you've ever gone on a campaign without this miniature. Yes. Well, there isn't any time to fix it, and I can't shake any chances on it being lost. I'm afraid it doesn't look much like me anymore. Why, it does. You haven't changed, though. I'm sure you're the only soldier in history who ever became a general without letting his belt out. Ho-ho, you wait until we've finished up here. Washington staff job for two years, and I'll be as fat as any old general. And twice as pompous. We'll grow old and fat together. It'll be wonderful. Mm-hmm. Together. And people will say, don't tell me that life out in Dakota was such a hardship. The Custer's grew fat and happy on it. You have been happy, yeah, haven't you, Libby? Don't I look happy? Yes. Well, let me see now. My orders. I put them in that drawer. Hey, what's this? What? Oh, that... that's my diary. My life with General Custer. I didn't know you kept a diary. Oh, it wouldn't interest you, dear, just silly things that seem important to a woman. May 16th, 1876. Tomorrow my husband leaves, and I cannot but feel that my last happy days are ended. A premonition of disaster such as I have never known is weighing upon me. I try to shut it into my heart, but it is almost unbearable. I pray, God, I be not asked to walk on alone. I probably wrote that or something like it every time you left me. Of course. Of course I know. I often feel the same way myself. When will you come back? This time? Oh, five weeks. Six at the most. See, that'll be, say, June the 25th. I'll make an entry on that day, too. My husband returned today. Goodbye, my dear. Goodbye, George. Seven, seven, eight. And, cut! Goodbye, General Custer. Goodbye. Some seven weeks later, after what was to go down in history as one of the tragic battles of all time, Custer's last stand, the War Department of the United States, made a simple entry in its records. It is the life history of a soldier. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, born December 5th, 1839, and Major General April 15th, 1865, killed in action June 25th, 1876. Thank you, Errol Flynn. I sincerely hope that your new motion picture they died with their boots on enjoys the success it so well merits when it's released and shown throughout the country. Ladies and gentlemen, in a few moments our star will return to the microphone, but first we have some interesting information for you. The American Indians, who called salt white magic, named it better than they knew. Because salt, the white crystals you use so casually at your dinner table, almost without being aware of them, are crystals of creation itself. Crystals from which the chemist makes things as far apart as the gleaming surface of a motor bearing and the marvelous fluid that cools a modern refrigerator. To the chemist, salt is sodium chloride. Melted by a high-amperage electric current, it is literally pulled apart electrically to yield sodium, a silvery metal, and chlorine, a greenish-yellow gas. Both sodium and chlorine are elementary building blocks from which an almost infinite number of more elaborate compounds can be made. Sodium goes into the manufacture of dyes like indigo. Combined with oxygen, sodium yields sodium peroxide, the bleach that leaves your towels permanently white. Sodium is a component of sodium perborate, an important ingredient of many modern dentifruses. Sodium enters into sodium cyanide, the source material for an effective fumigating gas that destroys vermin. This same sodium cyanide as a molten bath gives automobile gears and other parts a surface almost diamond-hard. And your gold-plated jewelry, the silver-plated knives and forks, those too, and a wide variety of familiar metal articles, are plated with the help of cyanides manufactured by DuPont from salt. The other chemical half of salt is the green gas, chlorine. Chlorine bleaches paper and textiles. The chemists who watch over your municipal water supply use it to purify your drinking water. Other chemicals called chlorinated hydrocarbons are of great service to industry. Virtually every piece of metal that goes into an airplane, for example, must get degreased in the course of inspection and assembly. That is, it must be washed chemically clean of oil films. The plain parts are cleaned perfectly in the wink of an eye by a chlorinated hydrocarbon degreasing bath. Other chlorine compounds like Freon Safe Refrigerants are used in household and commercial refrigerating units and in air conditioning systems. Carbon tetrachloride made again from chlorine charges the fire extinguisher that safeguards life and property. And other chlorinated hydrocarbons remove the caffeine from coffee and extract the oil from soybeans. Sparkling white crystals of ordinary salt to the chemist are veritable seeds, inorganic seeds, true, but still seeds, from which an infinite variety of compounds for our modern society may be grown. In the state of Michigan alone, the United States has enough salt to supply the entire world for 200 million years to come, and there's more besides. Thanks to modern research, this common salt has become an inexhaustible source from which the DuPont chemist derives many of the better things for better living through chemistry. And now we'd like you to meet our star, Errol Flint. Applause Well, Errol, it's been grand having you with us tonight. Thank you, Clayton. It's been a busy week for me, of course, finishing the picture in Hollywood and then flying on to New York for this radio version. But it's been a real pleasure working with you here on Cavalcade. Errol, I was present last week at a private showing of They Died with Their Boots On, and I can sincerely say that Warner Bros. Studio did an extraordinary job. I wasn't just watching it, I was living it, especially the exciting battle at the end of the film. You know, that's one of the greatest spectacles I've ever seen on the screen. Well, it was a tough job, Clayton. I'm glad you liked it, but I don't think I'll ever forget shooting that battle scene. You know, I used to get a little nervous working with those Indians. You see, they were real Sioux from the Dakota Reservation, the actual descendants of the Braves who fought the original battle. Oh? And I kept remembering I was dressed like General Custis. I just had my fingers crossed, hoping they'd remember I was just kidding. Well, if it's good you did, you'd probably be wearing a wig right now. Oh, yes, a bald one, probably. But seriously, Clayton, I hope tonight's Cavalcade has given your listeners an impression of what to expect when they see the new picture. It's been lots of fun, and before I go, may I say thank you to the Cavalcade players? And I'm sure Joan Bennet will enjoy working on Cavalcade just as much as I have. I understand she's your star next week. Oh, yes, Earl, she is. We have a great story for Joan Bennet next week. It's Stark Young's colorful and romantic novel of the old South, So Red the Rose. Oh, Paramount made it into a wonderful movie. We hope you'll listen. Right, that's a date. Thanks again, Clayton. So long. Don't forget next week, the Cavalcade of America stars Joan Bennet in a radio version of Stark Young's great romantic story of America's Southland, So Red the Rose. On tonight's program, the orchestra and the original musical score were under the direction of Don Vouris. On the Cavalcade of America, your announcer is Clayton Collier, sending best wishes from DuPont. This is the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company.
